Lian Li PC-P80R Review

Lian Li is known for its high quality and well constructed cases, and having 20 years of experience in the industry, it is no new player in the game. So when a friend told me he has just shelled out $600 on a Taiwanese made casing, the first thought that struck me was that, "he must have gone mad!" To be fair, after seeing the case, this is a little review I am doing.

The P80R is a special edition ATI CrossfireX version of the P80. On first sight, the case is a huge towering full tower casing painted in bright red and finished in brushed alu-armor. It has a special spider theme going for it. Looks wise, it is a real eye candy, especially if you are an ATI fan. Obviously, this case's appearance is targeted at the gamer.

Taking a closer look, it is easy to see that this is one well designed case. Just take a look at the edges, they are no sharp like conventional cases, but has a rounded cut to it. The attention to detail is there. These are little things, but they add up to the entire ownership experience.


On the top of the casing, you have your usual USB ports, Firewire and audio jacks, hidden in a lift top latch. Personally, I would prefer a sliding latch, but it works nonetheless.

On the front of the casing, you will see that the front panels are all vented. It is really both form and function. You see, there are 3 140mm LED intake fans mounted behind the front panel, and these vented panels allow good airflow to pass through to the inside of the casing. The front fans even has a filter which you can slide out for easy cleaning. Pretty neat.

The front panel is quite a unique design, housing 3 fans, and it can be made to be opened from the left or right by selecting the left or right hinges. I am thinking you will be keeping the front panel closed most of the time, in order for the fans to do their job, unless you need to access your optical drives for instance.

One excellent addition is that the front 3 fans and one at the top can be controlled via an integrated fan controller. Even though it is not a nice flashy electronic one, it is an excellent inclusion for a stock casing.

Looking inside the casing, you will see that they did not forget about the red theme and left the insides to be plain silver. No, it is also painted red. This will save you a lot of time and effort if case modding is your thing.
The motherboard tray is removable as you would expect of such a high end case, which makes maintenance and upgrades easier. There are 12 5.25" bays, 10 vented PCI slots, 6 3.5" internal drive bays, 4 intake fans, 1 exhaust fan, a lock for the side panel, a removable PSU bracket, a cable management side panel, provision for liquid cooling, and enough room to put the largest of high end motherboards and graphic cards in there. The top of the casing is even removable. In terms of it being a user friendly case, there isn't very much else you can ask for.
In conclusion, this is a gaming full tower themed case, and everything is well thought out and well constructed. Everything that you can think of in today's top end cases, it is included in this case. But for $600, it is an extremely expensive casing. If you can afford it, this one is hard to beat.